


Gone Fishin'

by 19thjester



Series: Post Mirror Image [2]
Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: Gen, Modern Era, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:41:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7928167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/19thjester/pseuds/19thjester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam leaps into a woman who's deceptive with men online and must find a way to get her out of it, with Al and Sammy Jo's help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sam ran out of the water, the drowning boy in his arms, and then threw him down on the sand. Then he pumped on the boy’s chest before breathing into the boy’s mouth. After a few rounds of this, the boy jerked and started coughing up water. 

The boy’s mother rushed over, thanking Sam profusely. Sam looked over at Al, who was eyeing a group of young women in bikinis playing volleyball.

Sam parted ways with the mother and said, “Al, what about Tina? Or Beth? Which timeline is it?”

Al nearly flinched, looked over and said, “Beth? Why worry about her? I was just appreciating the game those girls have going on.”

Sam chuckled and shook his head. 

“Besides, isn’t it time for you to leap?”

At that moment, Sam disappeared in a crackle of blue light.

Instead of a beach, he found himself sitting in a darkened room, with the only light coming from three monitors. On each of the monitors, there was a chatroom, each with a different man!

“Oh boy,” Sam sighed. He skimmed each of the conversations quickly, answering the man who seemed most impatient. From what he could tell, these men assumed he was an attractive young woman and they were talking about what they were getting her.

Hungryhowie: Do you have anything next in mind, beautiful? You did say one more gift, then I’d get a new picture from you.

Sam’s fingers froze. He had no idea what the leapee would be asking for from this man. He typed back, “I’m sorry” then considered. It was suspicious that this woman was popular, wasn’t it? He doubted any of these men knew she was talking to others as well. For now, he’d keep the peace until Al showed up and told him what to do. And what would these men want to hear?

blondebb1972: I can’t decide right now! I think I’ll know by tomorrow.

The man, thankfully, agreed to this, then launched into an extremely detailed fantasy that involved ropes, honey, and a whip. Sam groaned and only skimmed that one, saying as little as possible while he focused on the other two conversations. The man apparently didn’t need much of Sam’s input and signed off after his fantasy was complete.

The remaining two conversations wrapped up soon after, and Sam logged out. Then he turned on the lights and winced. 

He was standing in a pigsty. The desk with the computers was the only neat place in the room. A faint smell emerged that Sam hadn’t been aware of before, emanating from the takeout boxes stacked a dozen deep along the walls. 

Sam shook his head in disgust then followed the cleared path to the door. With some investigation, after looking outside and all around, he determined that he was in a two-bedroom apartment. One bedroom was the leapee’s office. The kitchen was mostly empty save for condiment packets, a few takeout boxes and bottles of soda and juice. In the living room, there was a black leather sofa behind a plain wooden coffee table, and a pile of purses in one corner. There was a stack of flattened boxes near the purses with a roll of packing tape on top. A list was on the coffee table. Sam sat down on the sofa and read the list.

In a curlicued handwriting, the list detailed various items, like clothes, purses and giftcards. So the leapee had been honest about her gender, at least. But from how these men had talked, Sam was expecting to see a beautiful blonde young woman in her twenties when he looked in the bathroom mirror.

Not so much. Sam stared back at a white woman in her late thirties. She had frizzy brown hair, dull blue eyes and a very plain-looking face. No matter what expressions Sam made, the woman’s face never quite seemed to come alive. Perhaps this woman had trouble attracting men in the real world, so she had turned to the online world instead?

“Huh. She looks nothing like the picture Ziggy has on file.”

Sam yelped. “Al! You have to warn- Wait a minute. Sammy Jo? What are you doing here?”

The hazel-eyed young woman behind him said, “Sorry, Doctor Beckett. Admiral Calavicci is away on vacation, and I sync better with you than Gooshie does. Remember, I had to substitute a few times before, for short times? So he asked me to-”

“Al? On vacation? What?” Sam turned around to squint at Sammy Jo.

She shrugged apologetically. “He had a fight with Beth and said he needed to take some time off. I’m sure he’s going to be back soon, but he expected me to Observe this whole Leap.”

“Where’d he go?”

“I’m not privy to that information, Doctor Beckett.”

“Please call me Sam.” He sighed. “So what information do you have?” He realized that he had no idea where this woman’s identification was. 

“You’ve leaped into Mary Beth Harrington, age thirty-nine. She was married to a professor for a brief time in college before they divorced a year later. That was twenty years ago for her. She lives in Trenton, New Jersey. It’s April ninth, 1997.”

“And does she work from home?”

Sammy Jo frowned at the handlink. “Mary Beth has some kind of data entry job, but it’s part time.”

Sam looked around at the apartment. Despite the mess, it was a nice place- very up-to-date appliances, counters and wooden floors. “Part time? Come look with me.”

He walked Sammy Jo through the apartment to the kitchen. Sam started rummaging through the cabinets. Sammy Jo looked around the place. “You’re right, but maybe this is an apartment priced for affordable living?”

Sam scoffed, his head deep into a cabinet. “No. I think what Mary Beth does, is she fishes for men, seduces them and gets them to buy things for her or give her money. That’s how she affords this place.”

Sammy Jo looked at her handlink. “That makes sense, considering what Ziggy’s telling me. Let’s see. Ah yes! There was a case- it made it onto the national news. Mary Beth was killed by one of her victims, an angry Manhattan lawyer named Edward Hughes. She had scammed him out of thousands and he wanted his money back.”

“And when does this Hughes show up?” Sam stood up, hands on his hips. He hadn’t had any luck finding any trash bags. He started searching the kitchen counters, then elsewhere in the apartment for keys. He needed to clean that mess out of the office! “I’m sorry, Sammy Jo, but Mary Beth doesn’t seem very nice. Any good reason why I should help her out?”

“The problem is, by killing her, Hughes also gets disbarred. He loses his chance to defend an innocent man from getting arrested- his firm received his case and he would have been first choice had he not been disbarred. Ziggy estimates that if you save Mary Beth, you’ll also save the life of that innocent man.”

Sam sighed. This wouldn’t be an easy Leap. He found the car keys hanging from a hook on a pegboard and Mary Beth’s purse hanging from the back of a chair. “Can you help me find her car? There’s a mess I gotta clean.”


	2. Chapter 2

In the car, Sammy Jo filled him in on a few more details and Sam told her about the instant messenger conversations he’d had. The Manhattan lawyer turned out to be the guy who’d had the fantasy about ropes and honey, despite his using a different name. “What do you think set him off?” Sam said. 

Sammy Jo hesitated. “I’m not sure. Maybe Mary Beth didn’t give him another picture and he got angry about it?”

“Hmm.” Sam pulled into the parking lot of a store. He emerged with a box of trashbags, plus some cleaning supplies, and then drove back home.

As he cleared smelly boxes out of Mary Beth’s office, Sammy Jo punched at the handlink. Finally, Sam asked, “What’s up?”

“I’m running some scenarios by Ziggy,” she said. She looked around the apartment and frowned. “Something is telling me that there’s more to this Leap than just the lawyer.”

“It’d be great if I could stop Mary Beth from tricking those men again and making a honest living. Is that what you’re thinking of?”

“Ziggy thinks there’s a fifteen percent chance that someone from the Project is somehow involved with this Leap.”

Sam tilted his head. “Why would someone from New Mexico be chatting with someone from New Jersey?”

“On the Internet, you aren’t limited by your location. Maybe they couldn’t find anyone in their area?”

“Maybe. Why isn’t Al here? He hasn’t taken off like this before.” Sam frowned. As much as he was fine with working with Sammy Jo whenever he had to, it was tough working with her. She wasn’t knowledgeable like Al was, and something about her always unsettled Sam whenever he looked at her. Something about a forgotten promise? Sam shoved the thought aside and concentrated on the problem at hand.

After clearing out half the take-out boxes from the office, Sam returned to have Sammy Jo saying, “You should log in now, Sam. She’s usually up all night talking to various men.”

The smell was slightly better now, so Sam agreed and logged back in. One conversations popped up instantly, from when he’d been offline.

Sammy Jo leaned over Sam’s shoulder to note the screen names, then the handlink beeped and blooped as she asked Ziggy about them. Meanwhile, Sam focused on engaging with the man like Mary Beth would have in his place.

This man seemed a little lonely and needed someone to talk to, so Sam talked enough to assure him that he was listening. 

ILMinchiazzo, per his screen name, opened up by asking Mary Beth if she had checked her mail tonight. Sam’s eyes widened- he had never thought to check his mail! He should have, especially with all those men talking about gifts going to her and all that.

blondebb1972: Excuse me! I’ll be right back.  
ILMinchiazzo: Don’t take too long, darlin!

Sam ran to the pegboard and found a keyring with a mailbox key labeled 3-16. He hurried downstairs to the wall of mailboxes in the lobby and found it full of package notifications. He’d get these tomorrow. Gathering up the notifications, Sam hurried back upstairs.

He told ILMinchiazzo that he would get the package the next day- he had simply been so busy that day. ILMinchiazzo seemed suspicious of this, but he accepted it then started talking about his day at work. Sam listened as he had done with the other men, but something seemed off about this man. Something… familiar?

Mink, as he insisted that’s what Mary Beth had nicknamed him, ran a government project and had one co-worker in particular who could be a pain in the ass. This co-worker had a terrible memory, and Mink had to run the most support on helping out this guy.

blondebb1972: Why can’t other people help this guy out?  
ILMinchiazzo: I’m the best man for the job.   
blondebb1972: Surely you could use a vacation.  
ILMinchiazzo: Is that an invitation?

Sam hesitated. In the back of his head, something was pinging him about this guy, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

blondebb1972: Let me get back to you on that.

As Mink continued to talk about his day, another chatroom window popped up. It was the ropes and honey man from earlier again, and he didn’t seem too happy. He was upset about a transaction that had fallen through. Sammy Jo leaned over Sam’s right shoulder to read this conversation.

BenjaminHuff1956: I thought you said this money was going to your real name?  
blondebb1972: It is. 

Behind him, Sammy Jo said, “Ziggy records an attempt from this man to try to send an amount of money to a banking account overseas, except she thinks Mary Beth was sloppy and accidentally sent him the details for an account that she closed.”

“Why is he getting so upset about my using a fake name? His IM name doesn’t match his real name! I have a few options here,” Sam said to the substitute Observer. “I could send him the details for an account that Mary Beth is really using…”

Sammy Jo answered Sam’s unasked question. “...but Hughes is already suspicious. Even if you gave him the right details, Ziggy estimates there’s a 64.4% chance that Mary Beth slips up again and he goes after her at a later time.”

“That’s not what I want to do. I need to end this once and for all.” Sam frowned at his screen. “What other options does Ziggy think I have?”

Sammy Jo punched at the handlink. “Ziggy says Mary Beth keeps a folder of pictures to send to men. That’s from when the police searched her computer for information after her murder. You could send him one to fend him off.”

“Again, postponing the inevitable.”

The handlink squawked. “Ziggy says you could confront Hughes directly in his office, but your odds of surviving that are at 37.5%.”

Sam glanced back at the conversation with ILMinchiazzo. “What if I had someone to help out? Would that up my odds?”

“...yes. 72.1%.”

Hughes, under the alias BenjaminHuff1956, was still typing angry messages to Mary Beth. He was saying how he had one of his assistants on this case, researching to find the truth behind who Gloria Swanson really was. Assuming that Gloria was the name Mary Beth had attached to the dead account, Sam felt bad for the unfortunate paralegal who had to do research into an aspect of his boss’ personal life. 

In his head, Sam could almost hear and see Al puffing on his cigar and calling this lawyer a “nozzle,” saying he had no right to poke his nose around in Mary Beth’s life. He really missed Al right now. He meant no offense to Sammy Jo, but she acted detached and extremely professional around him whenever she came onboard as a substitute Observer. There was no way to see her real personality underneath that cool exterior, and it only made Sam miss Al all that much more.

“I’m going to ask this guy to help me out.” To Mink, Sam started to type, “I need some help,” then Sammy Jo waved a hand in front of his face to stop him. “What is it?”

Sammy Jo chewed on a nail. “No offense, Sam, but you’re a man.”

“I’ve leaped into women before. What’s the problem?”

“You’re not really acting like those men would expect you to.”

Sam squinted at her. “Expect me to? Is there a right way to talk to men?”

Sammy Jo thought back to the archives of previous leaps she’d read in preparation for taking the substitute Observer role. “Do you remember that leap when you were in a woman during the 1960s? In Detroit?”

“In Samantha, yes. What about her?”

“Remember how you had to talk to that guy- Buddy- before you told him you were a man?”

It was coming back to Sam now. “Yes? I know how to talk like that.”

“But you’re not talking like that with those guys. It’s like you’re typing emails to your co-workers. This is after you leaped, Sam, so things are different now.”

“Different? How so?”

“You don’t talk to people in instant messenger conversations like you’re emailing them. You talk to them like you’re having a conversation in real life. Those men are lonely and they want to see the words of an attractive young woman, not the words of some co-worker. So you need to type like that.”

“But Mary Beth’s not an attractive young woman.”

“She types like she is, and these men believe she is too.”

Sam had to smile at Sammy Jo. “How do you know all this?”

Underneath the slight flicker of the hologram, Sam thought he could detect a blush on Sammy Jo’s cheeks. “I talk with people online a lot. I started on Usenet in college and I talk to old friends through instant messenger.”

“Okay. Why don’t you help me out? Tell me what to say. I need him to come here, protect me, so I can eventually confront this Manhattan lawyer.”

With her help, Sam persuaded Mink to come fly to New Jersey, visit “Mary Beth” and help her out with a risky situation. Mink assured her that he’d come the next day.

ILMinchiazzo: Will you pick me up? Or should I get a car?  
blondebb1972: I can pick you up, honey. But how will I know which sexy man you are?  
ILMinchiazzo: That’ll be easy, I’m the best-looking of them all. But did you forget?   
blondebb1972: About what?  
ILMinchiazzo: I sent you a picture before. I can send it to you again if you like?  
blondebb1972: Please do.

They talked a while longer, then Mink signed out. Sam opened up Mary Beth’s email to get a look at who would be protecting him against the lawyer, with Sammy Jo looking over his shoulder. 

As the picture loaded, line by line, both Leaper and Observer said, “...oh boy.”

ILMinchiazzo was Al.


	3. Chapter 3

In the cafeteria of the headquarters back at Project Quantum Leap, Sammy Jo sat with Donna Elesee at a table, picking at her dinner.

“You couldn’t have known,” Donna said. “Ziggy couldn’t figure out who that one was, only that he was from New Mexico.”

“I feel dirty,” Sammy Jo said, pushing around a bite of chicken with her fork. “I helped my father flirt with his best friend. Sam also asked me if he should tell Al, but I told him to wait for us to figure it out.”

Donna frowned, blue eyes on her stepdaughter. “What’s really bothering you?”

“I don’t want to let Al down. He trained me for this and I don’t want him to come back from vacation to find that Sam is dead because I couldn’t do his job right.”

“...does he know that you know? About the connection between you and Sam?”

Sammy Jo shook her head. She picked up a cheesy bite and contemplated it. “I think he wants it to stay a secret kept from me, and I can’t say anything to Sam about it either. I don’t understand why, though. I mean, what other explanation could there be for my being compatible enough with Sam to serve as an Observer?”

“Time travel is a strange business. At some point, I read in the records that in another timeline, I left Sam. I never came to work here at the Project. I never had the opportunity to meet you or most of the other wonderful people here.”

“And if my father hadn’t started leaping, I wouldn’t be here at all. I wouldn’t exist.”

“His leaps were always for the better. Why don’t you run through some scenarios with Ziggy, figure out the best odds? Gooshie can help you too if you need it.”

Sammy Jo smiled at Donna. “Thanks. I hope we can bring him home eventually.” She started on the rest of her dinner.

“Speaking of, can you help me later tonight? John is being a handful again and he asked for you.”

“Sure, I can. I have to visit Sam first thing in the morning, then I can help you until mid-afternoon.”

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” Poor Sammy Jo. She hadn’t asked for this, but she was doing the best she could with what she had. Donna was sure that Al would be proud of her if he was here to see how she was doing as full Observer.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam was in Mary Beth’s sedan, driving to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. His knuckles were white over the steering wheel at ten and two o’clock.

What was going on? Why was Al talking to some girl in New Jersey in 1997, complaining about work at the Project? Couldn’t he do that with Beth? Was this part of why Al was gone as Observer this Leap?

Sam sighed. And there was another problem too: meeting Al. The picture Al had seen of “Mary Beth” wasn’t an honest one. How was he going to explain that away? Would Al get upset with him or Mary Beth for lying?

After parking the car, he found the area where he was to meet Al. He spotted his best friend before he was spotted- that head of curly dark hair was unmistakable, as was the bright green patterned shirt he was wearing. 

Sam hesitated on the edge of the crowd, mostly people milling around while searching for their newly-arrived family or friends. What would Al say? Maybe he should have said something before.

Then he saw Al coming towards him. Before he could stop himself, Sam rushed forward, shouting, “Al!” before sweeping up his best friend in a hug.

Except Al didn’t respond like he should have. Instead, he froze in Sam’s embrace, pushed “Mary Beth” back and then squinted at the woman in front of him, puzzled. “Do I know you?”

Of course. He was still on a Leap, after all. But it was so good to feel Al! One hand still on Al’s arm, Sam said, “Sorry about that, Mink. It is you, isn’t it?”

Al’s face hardened and he swept Sam’s hand off of his arm. “Who are you? I’m looking for Mary Beth,” he asked, his eyes slit with suspicion. 

Sam took a deep breath. “That’s me. I’m really sorry…” Sammy Jo had gone over this conversation with him last night, preparing for anything that Al could say to him. “...I thought if you saw what I really looked like, you’d stop talking to me.”

Al frowned at Sam. “Why don’t you prove it? What did I send to you? I think I was asking you about it last night.”

Fortunately, he had picked up the packages that morning. “You got me almond cookies from a European bakery in your area.”

Al closed his eyes. “That’s right, I did. How were they?” There was a hint of a smile on his face now.

“Fantastic. Weren’t those your favorite when you were young?”

“My father brought those cookies from Rome for me a few times when I was in the orphanage, yes…” Al opened his eyes enough to squint at Sam in suspicion. “But how did you know that? I think I’ve only told a few people about that.”

A faint memory came to Sam at that moment. _Al, crying at Sam’s kitchen table, the barely-opened box of cookies still in front of him… a woman coming around, putting her hands on his shoulders and apologizing, Al replying in his rough voice that Donna, really, it was all right…_

“Donna,” Sam repeated to himself in a whisper. Was that someone he should remember? Or someone who was better off forgotten? The woman in the memory gave him the same feeling he got from Sammy Jo: a feeling of broken promises.

Al cleared his throat and Sam looked up. “Shouldn’t we get going?”

“Yes, we should. Do you have your bag?”

Al held up his black bag, one Sam had seen many times, especially during their trips between Washington, DC and New Mexico. “Good to go. Where’s your car?”

Sam walked Al back to where Mary Beth’s car was parked.

After they got in and took off, Al started talking. “You know, I was worried when I saw that you look nothing like your picture. Then when you talked about the cookies, I realized that you remind me of someone I know.”

“Who?” Sam kept his eyes peeled for the exit to New Jersey.

“My co-worker, the one I keep talking to you about. You know, the one who’s a pain in the ass?”

“Uh-huh.” Sam was now afraid to say anything else. 

“Yeah. Hell of a guy. He told his wife that his best friend loved almond cookies, so she found this place that sold ‘em and bought some for me. Sweet couple, both of ‘em.”

His… wife? “This guy is sweet, even if he’s a pain in the ass?” Sam asked, partly to distract his now racing thoughts.

“Would give you the shirt off his back even if you didn’t ask,” Al said. He rummaged in his bag, made a noncommittal noise then put the bag back down. “It’s just how he works that’s a pain.”

“How does he work? And what are you looking for?”

“Oh, thought about getting out one of my cigars… remember, you bought some for me once?”

Sam blinked. He didn’t think Mary Beth actually bought any of her victims anything, but if it worked to hook them in further… “Do you want a smoke? Go ahead.”

With a grin in his voice, Al said, “Thanks!” and soon Sam picked up on the achingly familiar smell of Al’s cigar. He had seen the smoke from it many times while Leaping, but he hadn’t actually smelled it in a few years.

After Al was more settled in with his cigar, Sam asked, “How does your co-worker do his work?”

“Oh, uh, he goes somewhere that he knows nothing about, then I have to tell him everything about that place so he can do his job.”

“And that’s a pain to do? He can’t do the research himself?” Sam knew why his co-worker couldn’t, but he couldn’t outright say that to Al, now could he?

“Well, no. His job is more unpredictable than mine is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been pulled out of bed at two or three in the morning so I can go give him a briefing! And he’s got it worse off than me.”

“Worse off? Can I ask how?”

“No, not at all. It’s confidential stuff. But I’m saying that you remind me of this guy and I don’t know why.” Al continued to talk- apparently he was having issues with his wife, and trying to discreetly meet people in middle-of-nowhere New Mexico wasn’t easy. Someone at the Project had mentioned chatrooms, so Al tried these and met Mary Beth and a few other girls. “You seemed the most real out of them, but now I don’t know.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“I don’t think it’s entirely your fault… some people are too quick to judge by appearances.” Al blew some cigar smoke out the window. 

“Too true. It’s easier for men to accept a pretty woman.”

“And they’re easier on the eyes too,” Al chuckled.

Sam restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He was in a woman’s body and dealing with Al Calavicci… what else could he expect?

They finally arrived at Mary Beth’s apartment building, and Sam said, “Here’s home sweet home… I have a couch you can crash on.” He had cleaned out the last of the boxes that morning as well as the rest of the apartment, and it was now decently livable.

As they went upstairs, Sam asked Al, “So your co-worker… you don’t need to be there for him right now?”

“No, no, he’s in New Mexico right now... “ Al followed Sam into the apartment and then frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Your co-worker, he time-travels, right?” 

The door clicked closed behind Al, who nearly jumped out of his skin at the noise. “How do you know that? I told you our work is confidential.”

“There’s a good reason why I remind you of him. His name is Samuel John Beckett, born August 8, 1953, right? Married to Donna?” Sam couldn’t remember Donna’s last name, but that wasn’t too important right now.

Al’s eyes were wide with fear. “Who are you? Really?” He made the sign of the cross.

“It’s me, Al,” Sam said. “It’s Sam. I’m on a Leap.”

Some color came back to Al’s face, but his expression remained wary, bushy eyebrows still low over his eyes. “Wait… how do I know you’re not someone sent to mess with me?”

“Ask me something that only Sam would know.”

“Who was the best man at Sam’s wedding? How many people were there?”

“Let me think…” Sam focused. With Donna open in his memories, his brain could now dredge up other related memories through the Swiss cheese. “Half of Star Bright was there. Donna’s family was there. So was mine. You were my best man, Al. You said you were surprised because I wasn’t nervous. You said you were nervous when you married Beth.”

The shock on Al’s face slowly transformed into a smile. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “It really is you.” Then he grabbed Sam in a tight hug. Sam smiled and hugged his best friend back. 

After they let go, Sam wiped at his eyes and said, “I’m really sorry, Al. I wish I could have told you sooner, but I couldn’t risk it in a public place or you blowing my plan for this Leap.”

“So, where am I? Am I helping you on this Leap?”

“No. You’re out on vacation right now, and Sammy Jo Fuller is helping me out.”

“Sammy Jo…” Another thought came to Al. “Wait a minute, how do you remember Donna or your wedding, for that matter? You don’t remember her too often on your Leaps.”

“The cookies helped,” Sam admitted. “When you said I told my wife about your favorite cookies, the memory just came back to me.”

“Shit.” Al tugged on an earlobe. “I’m sorry, Sam. I shouldn’t have said anything about that.”

“No, don’t be sorry…” Sam trailed off. He had promised Donna something, hadn’t he? But what?

“She made me promise to never tell you anything about her. She didn’t want you to worry about her or have her interfere with your Leaps.”

“But she’s my wife! I left her behind!” Sam got up and started to pace. “Shouldn’t I be there for her?”

Al gently took Sam by the shoulder to stop his pacing. “I am there for her, Sam. Every single day. Everyone else at the Project too. She understands why you’re doing what you have to do.”

Sam ran his hands through his hair. “I promised her something. What did I promise?”

“Sam. Let that one drop through the Swiss cheese holes.” Now both of Al’s hands were on Sam’s shoulders.

“But Al! I changed things so she would marry me. What kind of husband am I, to leave her behind?”

“Sam.” Al’s voice dropped into a military tone. He led Sam to the couch and forced him to sit down. Then his dark eyes bored into Mary Beth’s blue eyes, and underneath that, Sam’s green eyes. “Listen to me. You are a saint among men, and your wife is practically the Madonna. Trust me, she gets it. You will leap home when it’s the right time. Sam! Look at me! You’re here on a mission, and you have to do what you do until you come home. Where’s your Observer? Is it me in your time or…?” There was a tone of apprehension in his voice.

“It’s Samantha Jo Fuller. She should be here soon, but I think she’s running late.” Sam’s eyes dropped, and Al grabbed his chin to make him look up. 

“What’s the matter now?”

“I get this feeling whenever I look at Sammy Jo or think about Donna. Like I’ve forgotten something.”

“Don’t worry about it, okay? Trust me on this. They’re both fine, they’re doing their jobs, and you will come home when the time is right.”

A noise sounded to only Sam, and Sammy Jo emerged, looking exhausted. Sam said, “Hi, Sammy Jo. It’s okay, I told Al that I’m here on a Leap and he’s ready to help us out. What’s up?”

“Other stuff going on.” Sammy Jo remembered that Donna had explicitly instructed her to never tell Sam anything about what was happening with her or her personal life. “Have you figured out what to do about that lawyer yet?”

“We’re working on it. I just got upset because of something.” Sam wasn’t sure how well Sammy Jo knew Donna at the Project, and he couldn’t ask either. Then he filled in Al quickly about what was going on with the lawyer and what Ziggy had predicted would happen.

Al puffed on his cigar. “That doesn’t sound like a good situation, Sam.”

“No, but it’s why I need you here. I can’t face that man alone as someone he assumes to be a vulnerable young woman.”

“Good point. I can’t imagine any of my girls facing a shark like that and coming out of it unscathed. A gun! Geez louise, what is a New York lawyer doing with one, anyway?”

“I don’t know, Al, but we need to make sure that Mary Beth gets out of this alive and into a better life.” 

Al nodded, thoughtful. “You know, Sam, I don’t think you’ve ever leaped close enough in time or place to try this hypothesis, but it was one Sammy Jo suggested recently.”

“What hypothesis?” Sam turned to look at Sammy Jo.

Sammy Jo twisted one hand in the other. “I’m not sure if it’s going to work, Sam,” she said. “My idea was that if you ever got close enough to New Mexico after 1995, we could bring you to the Project, verify it’s you then put you back into the Acceleration Chamber, see if that brings you home at last.”

Sam shook his head. “I’m not sure if that’ll work. If I Leap in, what’s going to happen to the me that’s still leaping around out there in 1997?”

Sammy Jo shrugged. “Wouldn’t that you eventually become the you who leaps back home into 1997?”

“Good point. But what’ll happen to Mary Beth when I Leap in? She won’t be in the Waiting Room at this time, right?”

“...good point. I’m not sure.”

“Right. I think it’d be easier if I Leaped into myself but I’m not sure how to do that yet. I’m barely directing myself through Leaps as it is.”

Al leaned back, still deep in contemplation. Sam turned to look at him. “What are you thinking?”

“Has Sammy Jo run any scenarios by Ziggy yet?”

Sammy Jo spoke up, and Sam repeated her words for Al’s benefit. “Mary Beth will need a better source of income if she cuts off conversation with those men. Ziggy thinks the best chances for Mary Beth would be for her to transfer to a different city, one with full-time jobs available to her.”

“Let me look up her company.” Al and Sammy Jo followed Sam into the office.

Al looked around. “So this is the spider web where Mary Beth caught her men?”

Sam shot Al a look before booting up the computer and opening up the computer. Behind him, Sammy Jo said, “She works for KeySmart. Type that in.”

Sam typed it in, and the web address came up. After waiting for the website to load, he found the employee log-in and put in Mary Beth’s information. Clicking around, he found a list of locations for this company. There were offices in New York, where Mary Beth submitted her work to, and there were also offices in San Francisco and Kansas City. The link for Kansas City was a brighter color, and there was a subtitle underneath: “Hiring now!”

“Click on that, Sam!” Al urged.

Sam looked. There were a few full-time positions available in Kansas City. He applied to one, via a workplace transfer request link he found after some searching.

“What are the odds Mary Beth gets this transfer?” Sam asked Sammy Jo.

“Ziggy gives it 91.7% odds,” Sammy Jo said, which Sam repeated for Al.

“So you’re outta here, Sam!” Al slammed one hand into the other palm. 

“Not quite, Al.” Sam sighed as he opened up the IM program. “I need to cut off ties with those men first. Then after the transfer gets approved, I can get Mary Beth started on moving out of here.”


	5. Chapter 5

A lot of the conversations Sam had with the men he was breaking it off with went something like this:

Hungryhowie: But why?  
blondebb1972: I need to move and start over.  
Blondebb1972: It’s not you- it’s me.  
Hungryhowie: Can you at least keep in touch? Just to talk?  
Blondebb1972: No, sorry.

Sam didn’t want Mary Beth to fall to temptation after she moved to Kansas City. She had to stop taking advantage of those people and learn to rely on herself.

Al disagreed. “She’s at least befriended some of those guys, right?”

“Yeah, but is it an honest friendship? Remember, Al... you were pissed off when you found out who Mary Beth really was.”

Al chewed on the inside of one cheek. “You have a point.”

“They’ll move on, find other women.”

“Well, except for that lawyer nozzle.”

“Let’s deal with him first, Al.”

BenjaminHuff1956: Are you doing this to get away?  
blondebb1972: What?  
BenjaminHuff1956: I’ll keep investigating you. I don’t think you are who you say you are.

BenjaminHuff1956: I think this is all a scam, and you’re trying to get away before you can get caught.  
BenjaminHuff1956: But I will catch you.   
BenjaminHuff1956: I already have some evidence on you.

“Call his bluff, Sam.”

blondebb1972: I don’t think you do.  
BenjaminHuff1956: I do, actually.  
BenjaminHuff1956: I’m sure whoever else you’ve scammed would love to get their hands on some this evidence too.

“I don’t think he’s lying, Al.”

“Ziggy says the chances that this lawyer will kill Mary Beth in the near future are getting higher.” Sammy Jo had just come in.

“You’re running late, Sammy Jo,” Sam said. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, sorry. Another problem came up with... my nephew.”

“A problem came up at home for her,” Sam told Al as Sammy Jo looked over his shoulder to catch up on the conversation. Then he frowned at the screen. “Can a court of law really charge Mary Beth with anything?”

“Exploitation by deception, Ziggy says,” Sammy Jo said, punching at the handlink.

“What are my options? What can I say to this guy?”

“If it were me, Sam, I’d march right into his office and shove my cigar right up-”

 

“Al!”

“-his nose,” Al finished and took an inhale from the ever-present cigar in his hand.

The handlink beeped. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. Ziggy says that Mary Beth eventually faced the lawyer when he had a mountain of evidence against her. Then he shot her in his office.”

“So I have to get this over with,” Sam groaned. “Then after the transfer’s finalized, I can get Mary Beth on the road…”

blondebb1972: Can we meet? At your office?   
blondebb1972: I’d like to set the record straight.  
BenjaminHuff1956: As in, you come to my office in person?  
Blondebb1972: That’s the idea, yes.  
BenjaminHuff1956: All right. You show security your ID proving that you are Mary Beth Harrington, and they will let you in.  
Blondebb1972: Someone else is coming with me for my protection. Can you let them in as well?  
BenjaminHuff1956: They are?  
Blondebb1972: Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci, USN.  
BenjaminHuff1956: Noted.

After the lawyer gave the address to his office and agreed to meet Mary Beth early the next afternoon, he logged out. Al squeaked, “Sam! Why am I coming with you? He’s got a gun!”

“Listen, Al. As far as this guy knows, I’m a vulnerable young woman. It’s reasonable for me to bring someone who’ll protect me into the city.”

“But Sam!” Al flapped his hands in Italian gestures. Then he sighed and squared his shoulders. “Do you need me to look military? I have my service uniform with me.”

“Wait, don’t you need authorization to wear that uniform outside of a base?”

Al shrugged. “I’m a flag officer. I’ll call up my Navy coordinator, tell them I’m on an escort mission that’s connected to Project Quantum Leap, get the permission.”

The next afternoon, Sam, wearing jeans and a T-shirt under a raincoat, drove the car to the train station. Next to him, Al was in a short-sleeved tan shirt, tan pants and a tan-colored version of the hat he usually wore with his dress whites.

“Do you think he’ll be intimidated enough?” Sam asked.

“He better be!”

“I know I am. Sorry Al, but I can never get used to you in your uniform.”

Al chuckled. “Beth likes it. She always said I looked the best in a uniform. Of course, she usually means the whites.”

“Yeah, don’t you get a lot of compliments on your whites?”

“Sure, even if they’re not that great to actually wear.”

“Oh right, you’d rather wear things like those suits with the cut-outs in the lapels?”

“Hey! That’s in right now!”

They parked at the train station then bought their tickets. After getting on the train and sitting down, Sammy Jo showed up. 

“Hi Sammy Jo,” Sam said. “Anything new from Ziggy?”

“Do you both know the plan?”

“Do we know the plan? We show up, grab the evidence, destroy it.”

“Then I get Mary Beth out of there alive,” Al said. 

“Ziggy has some good odds- 87.4%.” Sammy Jo looked back and forth between Sam and Al. “Do you think you’ll need me here, Admiral?”

Sam repeated her words for Al, who thought on it. Then Al said, “Why don’t you do a scan on this lawyer’s office when we arrive? See what evidence he has, what weapons he has…”

“As far as we know, he only has a gun,” Sam said.

“You never take your enemy for granted.”

“Scan for evidence and weapons.” Sammy Jo punched this information into the handlink. “Got it.”

After arriving at Penn Station, Sam and Al found a subway station that would take them to the office building in Manhattan where this lawyer’s office was.

Sure enough, Kincaid, Hughes & Patterson At Law was printed on the building directory, and it was on the sixth floor. After talking to security and assuring the guard they were who their ID cards said they were, Sam and Al took the elevator up. On the walk towards the office, Sam noticed that Al’s steps were more measured, more in cadence.

The two entered the office, and Sam heard the beeping of the handlink. Behind him, Al was standing stiffly in parade rest and Sammy Jo was setting up the handlink to perform a scan. Sam approached the secretary and told her that Mary Beth Harrington was here for her appointment with Edward Hughes.

“Please enter. He is expecting you,” the secretary told them, and she pointed out where his office was. Sam knocked on the door before entering.

Hughes, a tall man with the first touches of gray in his immaculately styled hair and a potbelly, was sitting behind his desk, sorting through a folder. “Hello, Admiral Calavicci. Thank you for escorting this young lady here. You may leave.”

Al said in his most grave military tone, “I can’t do that, sir. I’m authorized to stay with this young lady until she leaves this office.”

Hughes frowned, but he said nothing. To Sam, he said, “Sit down, Mary Beth. I found your real picture while investigating that phony account you sent me. What a shame you had to lie about your face too, eh? Now let’s go through the folder, shall we? Sit down over there.” He flapped a hand impatiently while using the other to flip through the folder.

Sam didn’t like his patronizing tone, but he couldn’t say anything about it. He sat down, and at that moment, Sammy Jo walked through the wall. Al caught Sam’s look and made a discreet gun gesture with one hand, raising an eyebrow. Sammy Jo shook her head and held up one finger. Sam said, “No worries,” also holding up a finger for Al’s benefit.

“No worries?” Hughes looked up.

“I was just telling Admiral Calavicci that we shouldn’t have anything to worry about. What do you have?”

Sammy Jo shone the handlink on the folder as Hughes went through it. She shook her head at Sam again. “This is fodder for small claims court. If he wants Mary Beth arrested, he needs multiple claims from other people too.”

Sam’s mind ticked, working away at this problem. Then he realized that Hughes had never asked his name directly. He had probably assumed that just an identity card would be enough to assure the security guard of their identities. Unless…

“I’m sorry all this happened to you, Hughes,” Sam said, increasing the flirt in his voice. “I didn’t realize my boss had gotten into so much trouble.”

Hughes’ head snapped up. 

Even Al’s arms abruptly dropped to his sides from where they’d been folded and his eyes widened. He hissed, “What are you doing…?”

“Your boss?” Hughes repeated, an eyebrow raised.

“Yes. I work for her. I send purses and other things that men send to me to her for profit.”

“What’s your boss’ name?” Hughes pulled out a pad of legal paper and a pen.

“I don’t know her name. She…”

Sammy Jo jumped in. “Say she uses encrypted email!”

Spurred on by Sammy Jo’s improvising and taking cues from her, Sam went on, “Yes. She uses encrypted email to send messages to me. I don’t know her name, because she only signs the name of her company. She gives me different addresses to send the gifts to, usually post office boxes somewhere in Eastern Europe.”

Hughes shook his head. “This can’t be true.”

“It is true. I’d show you the emails, except they delete themselves right after I write down the address then close the email.”

Hughes narrowed his eyes. “No. I don’t believe this. You’re a weasel of a woman, trying to get out of this so you won’t get into trouble. I won’t have any of this!” He reached into the bottom drawer of the desk.

Sam thought quickly. He jumped onto Hughes’ desk, kicking the folder behind him. As Al scrambled to pick up the folder and what evidence there was against Mary Beth, Sam made his move. He spun around and launched what Al called a “flying noodle kick” into Hughes’ torso. Hughes staggered backwards, then fell solidly on his ass. He looked up at Sam, eyes wide.

Sam crouched on the desk, looked Hughes in the eye, and said, “If you go after me, I’ll counter-sue for defamation. I was merely following my boss’ orders. Is that understood?”

Hughes’ mouth managed to eke out a “yes.”

“I’m moving soon. You won’t hear any more from me. And if you contact anybody else, you won’t find anyone who’s still in contact with me. So forget about me. Will you move on?”

Another small “yes” squeaked out from between Hughes’ lips.

Sam turned to look at Al, who had the folder haphazardly stuffed with paper clutched in his arms. Al nodded firmly, and Sam jumped down from the desk to join his best friend. They both left the office.

Several blocks away, Al found a trashcan to dump the folder and its contents into. “That’s all done, Sam,” he said, rubbing his hands against each other to get rid of the dirty evidence.

Sammy Jo materialized next to Sam, making him flinch. “Congratulations! Ziggy says that Mary Beth’s life is no longer in danger here. What do you need to Leap?”

“I need to get Mary Beth on the road,” Sam said. “Let’s go home.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Thank you so much for all your help, Sammy Jo,” Donna said to her over dinner. “I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” Sammy Jo said. “I hope Sam wasn’t too suspicious that I was late, though. At least he had Al to help.”

“Al was there? But he’s on vacation.”

“I meant the Al in 1997. Apparently he was talking to the woman that Sam Leaped into, and Sam invited him to fly over, protect him from someone he had to confront.”

“And Sam told Al who he was?”

“Yes. Should he not have done that?”

“Technically, it’s against the rules of Leaping, but it was a different Sam who wrote those rules. How did you do with Observing, Sammy Jo?”

“I think I did all right. I helped Sam through the chatrooms, helped him figure out how to talk to those guys. I made sure there weren’t any other weapons in the lawyer’s office.” 

“Sounds like you did a good job,” said an unexpected raspy voice, and Sammy Jo looked up, startled. It was Al, a little grayer than the Al she had seen with Sam in 1997, but still Al. “Sam got through his mission, right?”

“He hasn’t quite Leaped out yet,” Sammy Jo told him. “But Ziggy thinks that the Al that’s with Sam there now will help him finish it.”

Al squinted at her. “Wait a minute, he met me in the past?”

Donna put in, “I know, Al, it’s against the rules, but didn’t a different Sam make those rules?”

“When was this Leap, exactly?” Al tried to rack his brains. When had he met Sam in the past?

“It’s in April 1997. Do you remember flying to New Jersey for some girl you met online?”

Al made a gesture with his cigar. “That’s right. Mary Beth, wasn’t it? I remember she was very different in person. I helped her move cross-country.”

“You don’t remember her telling you that she was really Sam?”

Al shrugged. “I don’t remember too much about her. Then again, I think Sam and I have seen that people around him in a Leap don’t remember too much. How’s Sam doing? Is he ready to Leap yet?”

“Ziggy said he needs to be assured that Mary Beth won’t return to her old ways.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is probably gonna be the most gay thing ever in my post-MI 'verse. Sorry about that.

In the car, as Sam focused on trying to find the right highway exit onto I-70, Al was singing “Volare” off-key at the top of his lungs. What worldly possessions Mary Beth had were crammed into the backseat and trunk, making the back of the car dip. 

Sam had voiced some concerns about where to put the heavy computer monitors in the car. Al, the military veteran, had told him to put them in the backseat, so they wouldn’t weigh down the back so much. Sam had questioned this and asked why not get a trailer. Al had pointed out Mary Beth didn’t have so much in the way of things, so that matter was settled.

Once on the highway, Sam slammed the button to turn the radio on then turned the volume up loud enough until it drowned out Al’s singing. Al got the hint and pressed the button to turn the radio off. “What’s up, Sam?”

“I’m thinking. How am I going to Leap?”

“What do you mean? I thought we were gonna drive there, you’d get settled in then you’d Leap.”

“Right. I’m not sure. I think I need to work through something first.”

“Is this about Donna? Look, Sam, I’m sorry I even brought that up-”

“No, it’s not about that. Um… do you ever get memories from other timelines?”

“Sometimes,” Al said. “I think it’s a byproduct of being an Observer and my life getting affected by your Leaps. Why do you ask?”

“I was trying to remember more details about Donna and me, about our wedding, since you did bring it up…” Sam shot Al a sharp look. “Why bring that up, anyway?”

“I’d already mentioned Donna, and I figured either you would remember it or you’d say you were never married.” Al fiddled with an unlit cigar.

“Good point.” Sam frowned as he focused on the road for a few minutes, watching for any errant cars. Then he said, “You didn’t wear a white suit to my wedding to Donna, did you?”

“...no.” Al squinted at him. “Why?”

“I had a memory of you in a white suit and me in a tux, and I thought it was at a wedding somewhere.”

“You sure you aren’t thinking of something else? Wait! Last year, didn’t you leap into that blind piano player? I wore my white suit that Leap.”

“Maybe. I just know this one was at a wedding.” Sam concentrated on the memory as he drove, trying to make it clearer. “Al… what if I told you this was for our wedding?”

“Yours and Donna’s? But I didn’t wear white for that one. I’ve never worn white for weddings. You never upstage-”

“No, not mine and Donna’s. I meant what if… this was yours and my wedding?”

_“What?!”_ Al fumbled and dropped his cigar on the floor in front of him. When he’d retrieved it, he sat up and dug in his ear with a finger. “Say that again. I don’t think I heard you right the first time. Why would you and I get married, to begin with? And how would that be possible?”

“I think it was us, yeah. I’m not sure how that’s possible. But maybe you were right. Maybe it was that leap with the blind pianist.” Sam chuckled awkwardly.

Al, reassured, sat back and lit his cigar.

The memory in Sam’s head was insistent. It had indeed been him and Al. Sam had pointed out to Al that here was a chance for him to wear white without upstaging the bride, so Al had seized the day and looked very handsome indeed in his white tuxedo. It wasn’t an official wedding, per se. Al had insisted on keeping the ceremony small, excluding any Navy personnel. But it had been their special day, together. 

Sam stayed quiet the rest of the morning. Al tuned the radio into an oldies station and Sam didn’t object. 

“What, you don’t need Tim McGraw?” Al teased him.

Sam didn’t say anything; he only focused on the road.

After they pulled over into a restaurant for lunch and sat down, Al asked, “Sam, what’s eating you?”

“No judgment?” If Sam’s estimate was right, this was before Thomas York, before Al had acknowledged that gay people were all right. His behavior on that Leap wouldn’t have happened in a different timeline.

“No judgment, Sam. I’m your best friend, aren’t I?”

“What memories do you have of other timelines?”

The waitress came by and asked for their orders. After she left, Al said, “Not much. I once had a memory of a timeline where Beth left me. I was married to some Jewish woman at some point, and this memory that came up, I was at her family’s house with her huge family. I got this huge feeling that it felt very comforting to me.”

Sam smiled. “Yeah. Do you find it strange, memories of being married to other people?”

“Is this about that horseshit you brought up earlier? About supposedly remembering our wedding?” Al squinted at him. “You sure that really wasn’t the blind piano guy?”

“Al. You said no judgment.”

Al took a deep breath. “All right. I just don’t understand how that could have happened.”

“Let’s say… it just did. Could you see that happening, Al? At all?”

“Listen, Sam, I don’t mean any offense. But if the Navy caught wind of any of their officers, especially flag officers, being involved with other men, that would mean a dishonorable discharge or worse. Are you saying we got away with it?”

“In another timeline, we did.” At Al’s skeptical look, Sam added, “Listen, what does it matter? You have this timeline, where you have Beth and the girls. It just so happens that in another timeline, you had me. And the cats.”

“Cats? I don’t even like them that much!”

“You tolerated them for me. When one of them had kittens, we kept one and you named it.”

“Cats,” Al repeated in disbelief. “You’re right, Sam. I’m happy I’m in this timeline, where I don’t have to deal with cats.” Then he shook his head.

“Aw, they liked you. But anyway…” Seeing how pinched Al’s face was, Sam decided to change the subject. “We have about fourteen hours’ worth of driving left. We need to figure out what to do when Mary Beth arrives in Kansas City.”

“You have those apartment complexes lined up, and you wrote that detailed list of what to do. Sam, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll go with her to make sure she’s fine and sticks to the list if you Leap early.”

Just then, the waitress came by with their orders and smiled at them. “What a cute couple! How long have you two been together?”

Al snapped at her, “We don’t have cats!”

The waitress blinked, taken aback, and hurried off.

“Al, you didn’t have to scare her like that!”

“Sorry, Sam.” Al sighed and ran a hand through his curls. “It’s just… strange for me to hear about that kind of thing.”

“It’s the oddities of time travel,” Sam said, and dug into his food.

“Cats,” Al said after they finished eating and were leaving the restaurant.

“Cats,” Al repeated as they checked into their hotel for the night.

“What’s on your mind, Al?”

“Did we really have cats, Sam? In that other timeline?”

“Yes, we did. I wanted cats and you said you didn’t want a dog because you said it reminded you too much of your fourth wife. So cats it was.”

Al sighed, his face in his hands. “I’m sorry, Sam. This is hard for me…”

Sam sat next to him on one of the beds in their motel room and leaned on him. Somehow, it felt right. “It’s a different reality. I know. I’m used to it.”

“I’m not. Must be hell for other people, you ever think of that?”

“Hmm.” A thought occurred to him. “Do you remember the first time I Leaped into a woman?”

“Samantha, wasn’t it?”

“Would you have taken her to bed if you had the chance?”

“Oh, absolutely. She was a dream, Sam.” Al sighed at the memory.

“What if it had been me in her body?”

A pause. Then Sam suddenly found himself on the floor, staring up at Al, who was slowly turning redder in the face. 

Sam sat up and was about to squeak out an apology when Al said, “...I don’t know, Sam. I really don’t know.”

“...you don’t?”

“Maybe in the other timeline, I would have. But in this one? I really don’t know, Sam.” 

“All right.” Sam got up and sat next to Al, being careful not to touch him. “You know what I miss the most when I’m out Leaping?”

“What?”

“I miss touching you. I don’t mean like romantic touching. I mean hugs, any kind of physical contact with you. I can’t do that with someone who’s made of thin air.”

“Aw, Sam.” Al smiled and put an arm around Sam’s shoulders. “I miss that too.”

Sam leaned into his best friend’s embrace. “I’ve missed you so much, Al. I love you.”

At that moment, in a crackle of blue light, he Leaped.


End file.
